Are the other Galaxy-class starships really that powerful and prestigious?

[Paradise City]

You don't know what guns the Klingon's where packing or how well D was prepared in the YE timeline. It may have been rushed into service. Although the D did kill one BOP.

D getting bashed in Generations, all down to a bit of code is a bit of an embarrassment mind you.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

From a Top Secret Starfleet document:
The Galaxy program is the most expensive military weapons system in Starfleet's history, and it has been the object of much criticism from those inside and outside government—in the United Federation of Planets and in allied systems. Critics argue that the starship is "plagued with design flaws," with many blaming the procurement process in which the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards was allowed "to design, test, and produce the Galaxy all at the same time, instead of ... [identifying and fixing] defects before firing up its production line." By 2357, the program was "over budget [and] seven years behind schedule." Critics further contend that the program's high sunk costs and political momentum make it "too big to kill".

 

[USS Belmont]

Yes, I do know this is a show and the universe, including all the ships are at the wimps of the writers. I just wish that if they keep saying Galaxy-class is big and powerful, at least make the other ones act like powerful ships. Aside from the Yamato, the other named ones don't really do. Well, the Odyssey had a more honorable death in combat than death by computer virus, I suppose. The unnamed ones just fire phasers and photons in combat...

On Borg, it always cracks me up that 1 cube can take down 39 starships, but a whole quadrant's worth of cubes cannot take down one Intrepid-class starship...

I guess the show bible says it all - guest characters or ships cannot be smarter or better at finding the answer or resolve the situation than our heroes or the hero ship...

 

[Lance]

Heck, why stop at just the "other named" Galaxy-Class ships? Enterprise herself shows considerable flaws throughout the series. We see her being destroyed relatively easily on at least three occasions throughout the series ("Yesterday's Enterprise", "Cause and Effect", "Generations"). Indeed, in two of those, the destruction is caused by a coolant leak that can't even be combated by the main engineer. There seems to be no capacity for safeguards there, the Enterprise simply blows a gasket and falls out of the sky.

Maybe the Galaxy-Class in general have got fundamental design flaws. Enterprise herself is no exception, she may have only lasted as long as she did through the ingenuity of her crew.

I love the idea that the 'most advanced' ship in the fleet, and the latest to bear the revered name of Enterprise, is a complete lemon, and that engineering crews are working double shifts around the clock just to keep the thing flying in a straight line. How many chief engineers did they get through before LaForge got lumbered with the job?
(And yes I know this got played up for laughs in TFF, but by that point the Connie was obsolete and destined for the scrapheap, and the Ent-A was possibly a rechristened older ship anyway).

One of the things I kind of like about seasons 1 and 2 of TNG is that there's this undercurrent that the Galaxy Class are so new that they're effectively untried and untested (compare with the Constitution Class which was in-universe already a well established ship by the time TOS begins), and that ships like Enterprise and Yamoto are still ironing out the kinks, quite possibly discovering more of them as they go on.

You don't know what guns the Klingon's where packing or how well D was prepared in the YE timeline. It may have been rushed into service. Although the D did kill one BOP.

D getting bashed in Generations, all down to a bit of code is a bit of an embarrassment mind you.

I guess my point is that the Galaxy Class may have inherent flaws. Kind of like finding that one spot on something that can take it down. Sure, the destruction of the ship in YE was an alternative timeline, and one where the Klingons were already winning the war (through superior firepower?), but the actual thing that takes down the ship is identical to what destroys the prime timeline version only six years later.

The OP posits that the Galaxy Class ships other than Enterprise were all a little underwhelming, but the reality is that even good old NCC-1701-D herself may only have had notoriety for being the flagship and for carrying the Enterprise name.... as an example of her class of ship, she too is often shown to be quite vulnerable at times.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Sisko has his family with him on the Saratoga, and we several other civilians and even children in the corridors and escape pod.

Which may have come only after the Galaxy-class had been in service for awhile. Still, a Galaxy-class ship may have amenities and luxuries that a Miranda-class ship doesn't. Given the chance, the Siskos and those other families probably would have jumped to transfer to a Galaxy-class.

 

[Unionized Elf]

Isn't it fan lore that the Enterprise was the only one to return in tact at the coclusion of its 5-year mission?

A little more than "fan lore." That actually is in Roddenberry's TMP novelization. Granted, Roddenberry himself later declared anything in the novelization not in the movie non canon, but that doesn't make it "fan lore."

The Challenger was at a time when Galaxy class ships were pretty old hat. It was 2390 and interestingly didn't have the "additions" that the Enterprise did in All Good Things. .

AGT's future is at least five years later, leaving things vague enough that:
-Perhaps the modifications haven't been introduced yet?
-Or the Challenger will get them next refit?
-Or the modifications only happen in the AGT timeline.

How many chief engineers did they get through before LaForge got lumbered with the job?

I thought the implication was in the first season the Enterprise had multiple chief engineers? After all, in one of the episodes, the chief engineer in that episode is even introduced as "one of our chief engineers," which certainly seems like there are others on board.

On Borg, it always cracks me up that 1 cube can take down 39 starships, but a whole quadrant's worth of cubes cannot take down one Intrepid-class starship...

Had the Intrepid class been in service at Wolf 359, that battle would have turned out differently. Hell, look at Endgame, a fleet consisting of a Galaxy, an Excelsior, a Defiant, a Prometheus, and a Nebula take on a Borg ship, cause no damage. The Intrepid class Voyager destroys it easily enough.

 

[Lance]

I thought the implication was in the first season the Enterprise had multiple chief engineers? After all, in one of the episodes, the chief engineer in that episode is even introduced as "one of our chief engineers," which certainly seems like there are others on board.

The 'fanon' is that the multiple chiefs were all on-board to "learn the ropes" before being assigned to follow-up Galaxy Class ships. Before his transfer becomes official in season two, even Geordi himself can be seen (seemingly) in charge down there in a few season one episodes.

TNG Remastered however says that all of those chiefs are still on board in later episodes/seasons (their names appear on a crew roster created especially for TNG-R, suggesting instead that even in later years different shifts each have a different 'chief engineer', and that the likes of McDougal, Argyle and Lynch are all still there working alongside Geordi.)

 

[Timo]

For an example that handily predates TNG, see other "00" agents in the James Bond films.

I guess the same logic could apply to both: since we only follow the adventures of one 00 agent, we fail to see his death scene. Were we to follow 008, we would see 007 die half a dozen times, and promptly be replaced by the next guy with the same code name and number - but only after 008 had saved the British Empire and let the credits roll over him and his Bond Girl. Between the movies, there'd be an opportunity for 008 to die, too, but only between the movies.

Should we infer that 007 is more competent than 008? Probably not. It just happens to be a dangerous profession. "Felix Leiter" only dies about as often as "James Bond", not more so; we could assume that "Alex Trevelyan" actually dies less often than "James Bond" because the former agent has apparently been around longer than the corresponding incarnation of the latter...

Great adventures may have preceded the death scenes of the other Galaxies. Great heritages in general may precede those scenes - the Yamato almost makes this explicit with her suffixed registry. And a great many Galaxies did outlive the E-D.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[USS Belmont]

...I wished the Odyssey had shown up earlier in season 2 to be the cavalry of our DS9 heroes or something to give the ship and crew (and its ultimate loss) some more weight...

I guess that's why I really enjoyed the story from "The Brave and the bold" part I where they showed a DS9 adventure with the Odyssey just before "The Jem'Hadar". It shows the Odyssey crew and Keogh in a better light. Filling in the backstory between Keogh and Dax. The best line in the story was Keogh himself, "Great! I have been reduced to Picard's understudy."

Whether it is "Worf syndrome" or "00's", I wish the Galaxy-class is not just the Enterprise-D. Oh well...

 

[USS Belmont]

I guess the Galaxy is still around at Battle of Chin'toka! So, I guess Galaxy-class are not all flops. Maybe the Galaxy can brag being the longest active duty Galaxy-class starship! How about that!

 

[Unionized Elf]

Actually, when you get down to it, the Yamato, Odyssey, and Enterprise are the only Galaxy class ships we know were destroyed. Considering how many of them have appeared on screen, three lost isn't a bad ratio.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Actually, when you get down to it, the Yamato, Odyssey, and Enterprise are the only Galaxy class ships we know were destroyed. Considering how many of them have appeared on screen, three lost isn't a bad ratio.

Agreed. Galaxy-class ships were taking names and kicking butt during the Dominion War.

 

[USS Belmont]

Wait a min, I thought they only have 12 of these and started out with 6? Losing 3 out of 12 is still a lot. With all hands lost for the Yamato and all essential crew gone for the Odyssey, that's like 1,300 to 1,500 people died...ouch...no small loss

 

[Christmas Canon Spock]

Wait a min, I thought they only have 12 of these and started out with 6? Losing 3 out of 12 is still a lot. With all hands lost for the Yamato and all essential crew gone for the Odyssey, that's like 1,300 to 1,500 people died...ouch...no small loss

That is one thing that I think DS9 showed was that the loss of a starship was a major blow. It became a war of attrition, with Starfleet not able to rebuild personnel the way the Dominion could.

A starship lost is a huge deal, that some times is downplayed too much in the action sequences in all series.

 

[USS Firefly]

Agreed. Galaxy-class ships were taking names and kicking butt during the Dominion War.

I agree, starting with the Odyssey who did a good job under the circumstances

 

[Arpy]

It's an ongoing question how big the fleet is. Some see it as smaller, going by TOS background stuff, and others larger, going by doing the numbers of 150+ memberworlds, each with billions of inhabitants. Maybe there were 6 Galaxy Class starships in TNG year 1, but that was a while ago.

DS9 did a decent job of giving a punch to the loss of a ship. A ship isn't just a piece of replaceable hardware, but the lives (Full. Stop.) of lots of people like you.

 

[Unionized Elf]

Wait a min, I thought they only have 12 of these and started out with 6? Losing 3 out of 12 is still a lot.

I'm pretty sure we saw more than 12 in various Dominion War fleets alone. Plus, in Voyager's Relativity we did see a number of Galaxy class ships being constructed at Utopia Planitia.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Hero ship: Invincible, bar special events like movies or season-ending cliffhangers.

Ship of identical make and model to hero ship: Doomed. Always.

TOS was worst for it. "Oh no, that planet-eating tube sock/weird area of insanity space/that killer space virus/evil computer/whatever has spelled doom for a ship identical to Enterprise, what chance do our heroes stand against such a force of evil?"

 

[Spot261]

I'm pretty sure we saw more than 12 in various Dominion War fleets alone. Plus, in Voyager's Relativity we did see a number of Galaxy class ships being constructed at Utopia Planitia.

12 ships or 12 instances of the same few ships?

 

[Adventerprise]

The 'fanon' is that the multiple chiefs were all on-board to "learn the ropes" before being assigned to follow-up Galaxy Class ships. Before his transfer becomes official in season two, even Geordi himself can be seen (seemingly) in charge down there in a few season one episodes.

TNG Remastered however says that all of those chiefs are still on board in later episodes/seasons (their names appear on a crew roster created especially for TNG-R, suggesting instead that even in later years different shifts each have a different 'chief engineer', and that the likes of McDougal, Argyle and Lynch are all still there working alongside Geordi.)

Or maybe they have chiefs of various sub-departments, all called chief. Just as you have a CEO, CFO, etc in a company.